I have worked with drug-affected people for fifty years. In the last 30 years, I have conducted 300,000 – 400,000 consultations in addiction medicine. I have over 160 peer-reviewed scientific papers, including more than 80 on cannabis, and two papers in Nature family journals. Our 2,500-page book on the epidemiology and epigenetics of cannabis was recently published by Elsevier Press. I am a Professor of Medicine at two Australian universities.
Because of new results from Harvard research and NIH affiliate data, I lie awake at night worrying about the USA. In a universe saturated by cannabis insanity, we have all heard the industry spin. Is it possible to bring the power of Science to bear on the unholy trinity of addiction, namely deception (lies), seduction (the high, the cash), and manipulation (the cash), all shrouded in fear (and death)???
Cannabis Use Curves
US National 2024-2025 cannabis industry data shows the industry surging strongly forward, driven by an army of 440,000 employees pumping almost 6 million pounds of cannabis from 128 million square feet of canopy into 40,000 dispensaries for a wholesale value of $6Billion and a retail value of $31Billion (note the 500% markup); yielding a mere $5Billion tax revenue. This industry publicly boasts that it is the fastest-growing industry in history. Or as Charlie Kirk famously quipped “Everything smells like weed now.”
The National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) is an annual nationally representative survey of the non-institutionalized US population. Three key indices of cannabis use are monitored longitudinally, which are last year’s use, last month’s use, and cannabis use on most days. The most days index is key and is widely regarded as a direct measure of cannabis addiction in the general community. All three indices are rising exponentially.
The index for habitual use doubled from 2007 through 2017, and then doubled again to 2023 — representing a terrifying shortening of doubling times from ten years down to five. Importantly, all three curves show upticks about 2007 and 2017, presumably due to either changes in policy and / or perception. Importantly the most recent data is for 2024 which shows last year cannabis use of 22.2%, last month cannabis use of 15.4% and most days cannabis use of 7.5% nationally. This indicates that two-thirds of all cannabis users actually use at least monthly, and half of all monthly users are actually habitual users. Such data proves and documents the addictive nature of modern cannabis on the national stage.